The Single Bed
by Photo Philter
Summary: PostPartings. Luke remembers the conversation he had with Lorelai about single beds from the episode Lost and Found, and reflects on his relationship. Very angsty. One shot.


**Author's note: **This idea hit me when watching Lost and Found for the millionth time tonight. It's post Partings, so if you haven't seen that episode yet and don't want to know what happened in the finale, don't read it. But, comments are welcome on this, and constructive criticism is always a good thing—how can we grow as writers otherwise? One shot.

**Ok…one more**: I wrote this at about 12:30 at night, and didn't want to spend a lot of time working on it. As a result of that, I know there will be errors in grammar, and awkward phrasing, but I hope that it won't be that big of a problem. It's just an idea that I wanted to get down and on the Internet before I changed my mind. I also have no beta (because I rarely write fanfiction), so if someone really wants to, they can go through it, and edit it. I have no problems with it, and I would be so grateful.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned them, Lorelai and Luke would be married by now. So, obviously I don't, seeing as how the season finale went.

Ok...on to the story!

* * *

**_The Single Bed_**

He remembers the conversation he had with her years ago about it.

_Never ever date a guy with a single bed. It means he's not open to a commitment…no room in this life for anyone but me._

After that conversation, he looked into both queen and king sizes. Apparently there is a difference, not like he could really tell.

When he and Lorelai began their relationship, he bought a bigger bed. He needed one…he wanted to show her in every possible way that he was all in, in case she missed his little speech.

_Lorelai, this thing we're doing here -- me, you -- I just want you to know I'm in. I am all in._

The bed, the television, the shelf…all in. And things were going well. They were on track…they were engaged even. The only thing that was left, it seemed, was the wedding. He held to the belief that it would happen soon. Lorelai and Rory would make up, and go back to their crazy Gilmore ways, and plan the wedding. They'd be married by August if he had to predict.

But then…April appeared. And Anna—history come to life. He knew he should have been able to tell Lorelai (she'd be able to relate—having Rory at 16 would allow her to do that), but for some reason he kept them separate. Then when he told her, he realized he needed time to get to know April before Lorelai joined the picture. She was colorful. Everyone loved her. April would too, more than she loved Luke. Soon Luke wouldn't be needed. His king sized bed for him and Lorelai suddenly seemed big and empty without her there.

When his world with Lorelai and his world with April finally collided at her birthday party, he was surprised and happy. Things were well for all of then. The bed suddenly seemed to be a normal size again…when he slept there. But for the few nights that he was happy, he was mostly at Lorelai's. Although he guessed it could be considered his house too But Anna…he understood her reasoning, but his little bubble of happiness from having his two worlds finally as one had exploded.

For some reason after that, Lorelai was around a lot less. He never seemed to be able to pin down her, and seeing her was near impossible. Then suddenly, out of the blue, she showed up at the diner, demanding that they go elope right then. He didn't understand. He wanted to be able to plan it out, to think about it. Let April know, because he wanted her there. Let Rory know, because he knew Lorelai would regret not having Rory there in the morning. But she wouldn't hear it, wouldn't listen to anything he said. And suddenly, all of her emotions from the past 6 months were spewing out of her mouth.

_I love you, Luke. I love you, and I have waited and I have stayed away and I have let you run this thing. No more! I asked you to marry me, and you said YES… If it's between you and the purple wallpaper, I pick you. I pick you!…Do you care about ME?… I'm going CRAZY here. I made a commitment to you and I need to make it happen… You're going to have to figure out how April fits into our lives and not the other way around!_

It broke his heart to hear her speak that way, but he couldn't do anything about it, as much as he wanted to. Until right then, he hadn't even realized there was that much of a problem. He thought she understood why he kept things separate. He didn't know how to stop her, how to make everything better again. Then, she issued the ultimatum: we elope, or nothing at all. All he could think about was the problems he didn't know about. By the time he realized what she had said and the implications of it, she was gone. She was gone from the street, gone from her place in front of him and gone from his life, it seemed. He ran to her house to try to catch her, but there was no one there. He tried calling Rory, but she said she hadn't seen or heard from Lorelai since she left from Friday Night Dinner a few hours ago, and was everything okay? Driving by Sookie's house gave the obvious answer that Lorelai wasn't there. Where _was_ she? And why was her cell phone off?

Panicked and dejected, he went back to the diner. Instead of going back to work and trying to dispel the rumors that were already forming in everyone's minds, he quietly and slowly walked up to his apartment.

He saw the king sized bed, and remembered, again, their conversation about it:

_Never ever date a guy with a single bed. It means he's not open to a commitment…no room in this life for anyone but me._

Suddenly there were two different speeches of hers floating around in his head…both contradicting the one speech in his head. He wasn't all in, apparently. He had screwed up on the most important thing in his life.

That night, he got rid of the bed…he wasn't ready for a commitment. He pulled Jess's old single bed out, and moved his king sized bed to the other room. He put his sheets on it, and resigned himself to a life of single beds and no Lorelai to make everything better and more colorful.

He couldn't help but wonder, though, whose king sized bed she ended up in that night.


End file.
